Kante had to be withdrawn from France due to knee injury

N’Golo Kante

’s season was disrupted by the injury setbacks as he only featured in 26 matches in the Premier League and now his problems continued into pre-season.

He played for

in their Nations League opener against Denmark but he did not feature in the next two matches as he had to be withdrawn from the team before their battle against Croatia on Monday.

A statement from French national team read:

"Bothered by knee pain, N'Golo Kante left the group this Saturday morning. The Chelsea midfielder would not have been able to play Monday against Croatia at the Stade de France.

"Defender Lucas Hernandez must also leave the group in the evening to join his partner who is waiting for a happy event. 

"Twenty-two players are therefore now available to the national coach, Didier Deschamps."

The Blues star missed some of the matches with

because of his knee problem.

Thomas Tuchel talked about his problems in May, saying:

"I think he is our key, key, key player, but key, key, key players need to be on the pitch and he plays only 40 per cent of the games.

"It’s maybe a miracle that we arrive in third place [in the Premier League], because he is our Mo Salah. He is our [Virgil] van Dijk. He is our [Kevin] De Bruyne. He is simply that player. He is our Neymar, he is our Kylian Mbappe.

“He is our guy who makes the difference. If you only have him 40 per cent of the time, it’s a huge problem. Given that percentage, it’s maybe a miracle how consistently we produce results.

"It puts everything in perspective, because I saw Liverpool last season without Van Dijk and they struggled heavily. You see the difference. N’Golo is our key player and he needs to be on the pitch.

"

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